Asylum seekers are not allowed to work in Britain—and are given barely enough money to survive.

People applying for asylum for the first time are given a pitiful £37.75 a month for each person in a household.

And even what they can spend it on is restricted, because the money is loaded onto a special “Aspen” debit card.

Sometimes it’s possible to top up this meagre amount. The Home Office boasts of its generosity, “You’ll get money to buy healthy food if you’re pregnant or a mother of a child under three”.

It amounts to £3 a week if you’re pregnant or have a child aged one to three or £5 a week if you have a baby under 1 year old.

Pregnant women who are due in eight weeks or less and women with babies under six weeks old can apply for a one-off grant.

If you’re a first time asylum seeker its £300—but only £250 if you’ve been refused.

Appealing

Some 39,132 people were receiving this support, under Section 90 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, in the first four months of 2018. Refused asylum seekers who are appealing decisions have it even worse. They can apply for help under Section 4 of the Act.

But the criteria is much stricter and only 2,890 were receiving it at the beginning of this year. And the money drops to £35.89 a week.

At the same time, asylum seekers have to live in squalid, often unsafe homes. Even MPs on the home affairs select committee had to admit that the accommodation used to house asylum seekers—run by private contractors—is disgraceful.

And Mirwais explained that Home Office questioning in the asylum process has taken a severe toll on his mental health. “I’ve got psychological problems and had flashbacks from the past,” he said.

“And they constantly ask the same questions about my past.”

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